


Corroded Time

by XtaticPearl



Series: Phoenix and Eagle - MCU [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Identity Issues, Iron Man 2, Nick Fury Is Smart, Tony Stark Has Daddy Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-04-16 05:30:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14157834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XtaticPearl/pseuds/XtaticPearl
Summary: Nick visits Tony after the entire debacle and Tony knows that he's gonna be tested for tensile strength. Strangely, he finds the test aimed at creation than rejection.





	Corroded Time

They meet in a bunker, like a spy movie's recreation, and Tony finds a secret delight in the drama of it. There's concrete and steel and flashing screens of pinging maps, an orbit of secrets around a wide open space. The sole table is empty on the other side and he rubs his hands on his jeans to resist drumming a binary code on the surface. 

If he dug into his pocket, he'd find his phone blinking with message notification from an array of people. Pepper would be smart, sticking to a maximum of two, the history of knowing Tony's tendency to respond better to shorter messages making her efficient. He felt the familiar rush of fondness when he thought of her and couldn't stop the rush of a twinging disappointment when the awareness of an awkward rejection followed. The rooftop kiss had been brief and fulfilling of all the ache and longing he had harboured for her but it hadn't been enough to make the rest of it disappear. 

There's a martyr's lament somewhere, about losing love to war, and Tony brushed that aside in his head. 

"It's good to see you up and running again," Fury commented as he walked in and Tony briefly entertained the idea of getting up, if nothing then for the shock value it would garner. Or probably wouldn't, seeing how it was Fury and not Howard, whom Fury had apparently known better than Tony. 

He would feel bitter about it if there wasn't an air of irony that felt like Pepper's pointed stare pausing him. There wasn't much to be said about the Stark habit of keeping things close to the chest. Sometimes quite literally, he mused as his poison free heart pumped brighter now. 

"Yeah, doing a lot more than running," Tony replied and shot a quick glance to the door through which Fury had entered, "No Romanoff or Coulson this time?"

"They're busy," Fury dismissed the idea, placing a hand over the file Tony had been curiously eyeing in the past few minutes, "And so should we." He pushed the file towards Tony and leaned against the table. "This -," Fury nodded towards the file titled Avengers Initiative, "- is Agent Romanoff's assessment of you."

"How bad is it?" Tony asked, a small smile on his face belying the nervousness that pooled in his gut. Fury didn't say a word and Tony rubbed a thumb over the folder's edge before opening it. 

"Iron Man, recommended," he looked up and nodded at Fury, prepared for an addendum of conditions, a catch that came after this, "Tony Stark...pending confirmation? Wait, what?"

"Read the evaluation," Fury suggested and Tony eyed him suspiciously before glancing back down at the folder. 

"Mr. Stark displays evidence of unaddressed volatile trauma, alcoholism, and a threat of extremely poor self-preservation," he read, growing warm with a called out embarrassment and acknowledgment of the truth, "Narcissistic behaviour is adopted as a primary means of coping with stressful situations and a severe lack of vital communication is reflected in the existing team of Mr. Stark's environment. Presence of dangerous lack of trust combined with symptoms of reckless endangerment make Mr. Stark a doubtful candidate for the Initiative, decision pending further evaluation under rectified circumstances."

"Yeah"

"That's - worryingly vague," Tony settled on, clutching the folder hard for a moment till he eased it onto the table again, "What further evaluation?"

"As usual, Tony, you've dragged in changes to our initial plan," Fury said, reaching into his jacket to pull out another file, "We had a plan to complete this evaluation with Romanoff and then decide on your involvement with the Initiative."

"I feel like I like your 'but'," Tony quipped and Fury smirked a bit.

"The doubt comes in because you managed to take down Vanko despite all of this," Fury explained and continued before Tony could make a comment, "And because you were dying."

Tony paused and blinked up at Fury.

"That's a good thing?"

"That's a point in your favour when it comes to a second chance," Fury said before putting the second file on the table, "I'll be frank, you were a mess during your evaluation."

"Thanks, Nick," Tony raised an eyebrow but Fury didn't pause.

"But you were also dealing with more than you could handle and I think you could do better now that you're not actively dying without options," Fury nodded at the second file, a faded folder with just one word printed as the title.

"Really," Tony muttered to himself and picked it up, eyeing Fury pointedly, "Hulk. What do you want me to do, fight him?"

"Quite the opposite," Fury corrected, a faint smirk forming on his face, "We've got a situation brewing about Dr. Banner. Reports say that he was last sighted somewhere near the Arctic."

"Dr. Banner is hiding in the Arctic?" Tony frowned as he flipped open the folder, skimming through the details, "Oh. So the  _Hulk_ was spotted there. More like chased down there."

"Precisely," Fury nodded, "And it's gonna complicate things for us because General Ross doesn't take defeat well."

"Yeah, I have some experience with that," Tony commented, past brushes with the man still fresh in memory, "He's not a fan of Iron Man either."

"I'd suspect not. He doesn't appreciate people who don't follow his rules," Fury said as mildly as possible but Tony could still hear the undercurrent of tension. The file spoke about the gamma radiated being that developed and was controlled by Dr. Bruce Banner, one of the people Tony had always admired for his enthusiasm in science and a little bit of dangerous spirit. 

If he admired the rage displays of the Hulk too, well, that was for him and his issues to know. 

"How do I come into this?"

"We need to keep Ross at bay for now," Fury explained, gesturing a hand at Tony, "Provide him with a new focus and distraction."

"Keep him off Banner till you can approach the man yourself," Tony surmised, a step ahead of the explanation he was being given. When he looked back up at Fury, he knew that he was right. "What if I refuse?" Tony asked, a test of Fury's malleability. Every person was an element of nature, strength and weakness in hidden visibility. Tony's mind ran numbers and calculations about them when he gathered data about the people as and when he knew them. 

He liked knowing how fast people would corrode under fire or smelt into a difference. 

Fury met his gaze without flinching, facing iron with steel.

"Then you'd be asked to be a consultant for SHIELD," he said, "and the Initiative will be considered closed to Mr. Stark."

"You sure you can afford me?" Tony challenged, pushing till he found Fury's breaking point. 

"I'm sure we'll find something," Fury replied with a placid smile and Tony nodded once before he got up.

"Alright, I'll see about this," he offered Fury a hand and felt the strength in the other man's worn out grip, "Let Agent Romanoff know that her legal work was much appreciated at SI."

"I'll inform her that your CEO said so," Fury said deadpan and Tony grinned, sharp and alive.

There was still much to know about Fury and his motives, the link between Howard and what SHIELD meant with the founders it had as the base. But Tony had survived poison in his heart. 

He had enough iron in his will to meet the challenge of the coming time. 

**Author's Note:**

> This oneshot can be expanded into a fuller fic if you guys would like to see it. Please let me know in your feedback.


End file.
